Tantamen ramen and Asahi Super Creamy Head

I’m beginning to get Christmassed-out already so this week’s pairing is not the very old madeira and Comté I had last night, amazing though that was, but a steaming, spicy bowl of ramen and an Asahi Super Creamy Head beer I enjoyed at Bone Daddies Ramen earlier in the week.

As Ross Shonhan, the owner and head chef put it "ramen and beer is a no-brainer".

I can’t say the Asahi was as exciting as it sounded despite the fact that Bone Daddies is apparently the only place you can get it in the UK. It's basically a lager with a slightly frothier than usual head but its clean flavour provided exactly the right refreshing contrast to the spicy noodles which were served with chicken bone broth, sesame, chilli, pork mince and bok choy.

I was warned off having the full-strength version by our waiter and thought he had me down as a bit of a wimp but the half-strength one was way spicy enough. You certainly couldn’t have drunk anything more subtle with it.

I also tried one of their shochu cocktails, a Chuhai 1, a mixture of pear and apple juice, shochu, and soda water which was great with their (fatally) delicious fried chicken. They also have an interesting sake list.

Ramen has become huge in London in the last few months and you can see why. I can see Bone Daddies becoming one of my favourite places in 2013.

Cold sesame noodles and weissbier

Thanks to my friend Signe Johansen of Scandilicious I finally got to Koya in Frith Street the other day - London’s food bloggers most popular noodle haunt and the winner of last year’s Observer Food Monthly’s Best Cheap Eats award.

It was a hot day (unusually for this summer) so cold noodles appealed and I had this amazing dish of Zaru Gomadare, thick udon noodles with a sesame sauce, cucumber salad and turnip pickle. That seemed a big ask for any wine to tackle (although a trusty Grüner Veltliner would probably have coped) so I picked the weissbier that was on offer - which embarrassingly I failed to note at the time. No matter - any similar German or German-style beer would be an equally good pairing

Its citrus and banana notes and slight touch of sweetness were perfect with the sesame sauce which I’m still wondering how to amalgamate with the noodles for my next visit. (Unable to dunk the thick slithery noodles in the sauce like any self-respecting Japanese I ended up pouring it over them and making the most ungodly mess.)

They also have a decent sake list so I’m guessing that sake would have been a good pairing too.